


Midwinter

by maokitty



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Can be read as a standalone fic but this is set in the AROTC verse, Fluff, Other, gender neutral reader, holiday fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-26
Updated: 2020-12-26
Packaged: 2021-03-11 04:47:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,183
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28345620
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/maokitty/pseuds/maokitty
Summary: Levi has never properly celebrated Yule. You're determined to fix that.
Relationships: Levi (Shingeki no Kyojin)/Reader
Comments: 2
Kudos: 57





	Midwinter

**Author's Note:**

> Hello AOT readers on AO3! Sorry for my long absence from this fandom. I bring you a holiday fic as an apology haha.
> 
> This can be read as a standalone piece, but it takes place in an AU version of the AROTC verse where Levi and the reader are in a happy relationship, everyone is alive, and nothing hurts… Also pretty conveniently, unlike in AROTC, this reader is gender neutral and way happier! 
> 
> **World-building note:** Since there’s no Christianity in the AOT verse, celebrating “Christmas” doesn’t make sense. However, Yule is a pre-Christian Germanic tradition and the term dates back to at least 1475. I’ll be combining modern Christmas and medieval Yule traditions for this fic!

You still remember the winter after Shiganshina fell. 

Yule had been absolutely miserable that first year. The beautiful lights and burning yule logs of your childhood memories had been replaced by an overcrowded refugee camp and hunger pangs. Of course, you’d tried your best to make it as good for the kids as possible. You'd saved and scrounged and scavenged extra rations for Armin, Mikasa, and Eren, and even spent time knitting the three of them scarves. In the end, the four of you ended up having a kind of Yuletide, where Eren was as rowdy as usual, Mikasa was as quietly happy as usual, and Armin was as long-suffering as usual. It might not have been much, but it was enough.

When you relay this all to Levi, he pauses. He doesn’t look at you, merely watching the gentle snowfall outside the window, lit by the moonlight glancing off the thick blanket of snow over the forest. You shift a little closer to him, eager to feel his warmth beneath the throw. 

“That’s nice that you did that all for the kids,” Levi remarks after a moment. “Lots of work in a situation with a lot of shit. I don’t know if I’d do it.”

You hum. “Guess I just wanted them all to enjoy themselves. They grew up so fast, you know, after everything that happened… I just wanted them to be kids for a day.” 

“I have no idea what you’re talking about. They’re definitely all still brats.” A pause. “...well, maybe just Eren is.”

You laugh. “You’re so hard on him!”

“ _Puberty’s_ hard on him.”

“...I mean, yes, but so are you.” You shoot him a smile. 

After a brief pause, he asks, “What did you do for Yule? With your family, I mean.”

“Oh, the usual… Picked a tree outside and decorated it with tinsel. I hear in Mitras they go all out—use little gas lanterns and apples as ornaments—but of course, we didn’t have that kind of money to spare in Shiganshina.”

“Rich motherfuckers,” Levi mutters. “What else?”

“Went sledding, drank mulled fine, had a feast, burned yule logs… I don’t know—most of it was nothing so different from what we do in the Corps.” You tilt your head. “What did  _ you  _ do? I know Yule is on your birthday, and that you celebrated your birthday… but did you do anything specifically for Yule?” 

“For Yule? My mother and I never did very much for it.”

You jaw drops. “ _ Really? _ ”

Levi stares at you. “What, you think we had trees or snow in the Underground? Don’t get me wrong—my mother got me presents and made a proper dinner every year… for my birthday, if nothing else... but the sledding, the trees—all that shit, we didn’t do it.”

“That’s… a good point.” Still, the idea that the Captain never got to celebrate midwinter with any snow as a child makes you feel a little hollow inside. “Well, at least you’re here now, and you can do most of these things with the Corps…”

“Most,” Levi agrees. “Usually everyone goes home for Midwinter Eve, though, so I haven’t burned a yule log or anything. And I sure as hell haven’t gone sledding.” He snorts.

“...”

You stare at him. He stares back.

“... _ no, _ ” he states firmly.

“Yes.”

“Not a chance.”

“Please? I promise it’ll be fun.”

“Since when have I been fun?”

“You’re a lot of fun, Captain!”

“...you’re the only person who thinks that.”

“I’m the only person who’s right.”

“...”

“...I’ll deep clean your room a second time this week.”

“Deal.”

* * *

“You better clean  _ extra  _ fucking thoroughly next week.”

Levi peers warily down the snow-covered mountainside, his eyes narrower than usual. It’s only because you know Levi so well that you can sense his apprehension, because his poker face is almost impenetrable except for the slight twitch to his brow you caught just now. It’s enough for you to want to laugh, though. There’s something so inherently funny about Humanity’s Strongest not being so hot about sledding.

“It’s just snow,” you reassure him. “I know you didn’t grow up with it, but you didn’t grow up with Titans either, and you’re fine around them!”

“Firstly, I can kill Titans. I can’t do fuck all about the snow.” You try—and fail—to fight down a smile. “Secondly, I’m not worried about the snow anyway, but why did you pick a fucking mountain to sled down? Did you miss all the hills we passed on our way up here? Or did you lose your depth perception for a second?”

“I didn’t want you to get bored on your first sleigh ride!” 

“Right, you just wanted me to die on it.”

“You have your Ackerman reflexes to save you,” you wave off. You crouch down and pat the sled. “You take the front, Captain.”

Levi gives you a long-suffering expression—more long-suffering than usual, anyway—and sits down. Shortly afterward, you seat yourself behind him and throw your arms around his waist. 

“...this is ridiculous.”

“Sorry, sir… but it’s too late!”

With that, you kick off the sled and the two of you are zooming down a mountain range, white frost flying at your sides. To credit your good judgment, Levi is perfectly in control of the sled, but you suspect it doesn’t make him any more happy about all the snow getting sprayed into his face. You’re certain that his expression looks even  _ more  _ sour—or constipated, as he’d put it—than usual. Still, you’re beaming the whole way down.

What neither of you see amidst your ride down the mountainside are three teenagers hacking away at a fir tree—who all freeze the moment they see you whipping past them.

Eren’s jaw is hanging open.

“Was that… the Captain… on a sled? Was that him  _ smiling? _ ”

Armin stares at the trail the two of you have left behind.

“I think… so?”

* * *

“I need tree lights,” you state. “I know it’s a pain and the Corps never does them, but I  _ really  _ want them this year. Just for one tree!”

Petra hums, looking up thoughtfully. “What do they make them out of in Mitras, again?”

“Miniature gas lamps,” Eld supplies between sips of wine. “And they make the ornaments out of apples.”

“ _ Apples? _ ” Eren gasps. You understand his scandalized, angry expression—Eren’s never been fond of those wealthy folks tucked away in the interior, and the kids have all been a little neurotic about food ever since the refugee camps—but you still frown when he mutters, “Rich fucks…”

“ _ Language, _ ” you scold.

“Captain Levi swears around you and you never say anything!”

“He’s my captain. And he’s also not twelve.”

“I’m… not twelve either!?”

Petra giggles at the interaction. “Okay, back to the lights… I don’t think gas lamps are an option. We don’t have that kind of gas to burn.”

“We could steal them from the canisters…” Eld lets slip.

“ _ Absolutely not _ ,” Gunther shuts him down. He snatches the mug away from Eld. “You’ve had enough. It’s not even three o’clock yet!”

“Agh! You’re no fun… Time works differently during the midwinter break anyway—cut me some slack…”

“Tch!” Oluo gives all of you a patronizing look. “How childish! Don’t you think the Corps have better things to do?”

“Not during Yule they don’t!” Eld exclaims. 

Oluo looks on the verge of a retort, except Eren cuts him off with a surprised, “ _ Oh!” _

All of you pause. 

For a moment, when he lets the silence hang, you’re wondering if this is some kind of puberty-related outburst, but then he follows up with, “I know just the thing!” 

* * *

“Do you know what the Captain would say,” Petra moans as she jogs around the pine tree, wire in hand, “if he saw us right now?”

“Yeah,” you say, straining to get the wire through a few boughs just above your reach. The layer of snow on the branches are disturbed; you yelp a little as you dodge the falling ice. “ _ ‘Why the hell did you pick such a big ass tree? _ ’” You sigh heavily. “I just wanted it to be impressive… Although…”

You want to say, ‘Although, if I run inside and my 3DMG gear, it’ll make things a lot easier,’ but before you can get the words out, Eren’s snapping his fingers. 

“ _ I have another idea! _ ” he exclaims. Before either you or Petra can stop him, he’s biting his hand. The sky practically cracks open as thunder and heat tears through the vicinity. In the smoke-filled aftermath, a monstrous, fourteen-metre tall figure bends down toward you. 

“...Eren…” you moan, watching his Titan form delicately pick up the string of lights. 

“...this is too much,” Petra finishes for you.

* * *

“I have a surprise for you—or, well, the whole squad does,” you say, throwing Levi’s coat at him. His lip quirks, and after he buttons up, he allows you to lead him out of his room and down the hall.

“It better not be another sleigh ride.”

You laugh. “Luckily for you, no.” You throw him a playful smile. “It’s better than that.”

“That’s got me even more worried.”

“At least try to look a little excited. Eren worked especially hard for this, you know!”

“...is that supposed to reassure me?”

He trades a dry half-smile for your exasperated one, and you shake your head. “It’ll be good,” you reassure him as you swing open the front doors and step out into the night. “Here—it’s just around the corner…”

When Levi sees what you’ve prepared, he runs out of quips.

Before him is a massive evergreen covered in the otherworldly glow of underground crystals, painstakingly strung together by his squad. They light up the branches brilliantly—like you’d all plucked the stars out of the night sky and rested them upon the boughs before him.

And all just for him.

Levi glances at you—and then at the rest of his squad, who have all been awaiting his arrival, wrapped up tightly in their winter coats. They all beam at him as they yell alternating wishes of a joyous midwinter and a happy birthday. 

“Well… what do you think?” you ask, staring at the reflection of the icy glow in his slate grey eyes. 

“It’s not bad, but…” His mouth slants in an amused way. “Why the hell did you pick out such a big ass tree?”

“I wanted it to be impressive!”

“Of course you did.” He glances at the top, where a particularly big crystal is glowing. “How did you even get those lights up there? I guess you used your gear.”

“Eren transformed, actually.”

“...”

“It worked!” said boy exclaims defensively. 

“I mean… he’s not wrong,” you agree.

“It was great problem-solving,” Petra adds. 

Levi’s brow quirks. “He’s too used to relying on that Titan form of his,” he remarks, though the amusement is obvious in his eyes. 

You lean in, whispering, “The rich motherfuckers in Mitras don’t have a Titan doing their Yule decorations for them. Do you feel special?”

The corner of his mouth twitches.

“The rich motherfuckers in Mitras don’t have _you_. Of course I feel special.”

* * *

Although the bulk of his squad have to go home for Midwinter’s Eve as usual, Levi gets company this year in the form of you and three orphan brats. The three of you burn a massive yule log—collected from the mountains by the trio, and carried the whole way down by Mikasa—and sit around the fire, playing cards for most of the night. Between Mikasa’s pokerface and Levi’s Underground cheating skills, the rest of you don’t stand a chance—especially not after several rounds of mulled wine, after which only those two are unaffected thanks to the Ackerman genes.

Eventually, the log burns out and, per yuletide traditions, the night ends. After throwing blankets over the three kids, you and Levi retire to his quarters. Dead tired after spending nearly the whole of the previous night stringing together crystal lights, you pass out almost immediately as soon as you hit the bed. It leaves Levi the only wide awake, watching the snow fall outside as he traces circles into your back. 

Levi still remembers the first winter after he’d come above ground. Yule had been miserable that year. Isabel and Farlan had just passed away several months earlier, and—save for Hange—the other soldiers were still largely unaccepting of him. Worse yet, Levi felt a lot like a fish out of water when it came to Yule. After a lifetime of being in an Underground world without snow, food, or family, he’d admittedly felt out of his depth when the Corps had their annual feast. At least spending Yule alone that year felt perfectly normal to him. After all, he'd spent most of them alone as a teenager.

Levi remembers this first midwinter above ground, about as shit as most of the ones he’d had growing up, and about as unremarkable as all the ones he’d had after. 

And then, when he glances at you, all those lonely winters disappear.

**Author's Note:**

>  **Me writing fluff:** oh god oh god what is happening what is happening? 
> 
> Fluff is not my brand and I’m not sure if any of that was effective, but I hope you enjoyed <3 Happy holidaysss!
> 
> (I get terribly inactive on AO3, so please feel free to drop a line on [Tumblr](https://phen0l.tumblr.com/)!)


End file.
